What does it mean for instant noodles to blow high-end style
The collision of hot water and noodles, the perfect match of mustard and ham, a bowl of steaming, high-quality and cheap instant noodles is a lingering taste bud memory of many people since childhood.
Recently, some media published an article saying that the instant noodle market has already been "high-end". The instant noodles in the supermarket cost 10 yuan or 20 yuan, which made many netizens shout: Is instant noodles the "it" I know?
Why are high-end instant noodles popular?
Is the "golden age" of low-cost fast food gone forever?
What kind of consumer trend does a small bag of instant noodles reflect?
The appeal of low-cost fast food is long gone?
In the impression of many people, instant noodles are synonymous with good quality and low price.
As the world's largest seller of instant noodles, instant noodles have been in China for more than ten years.
It once drifted in green leather trains, student dormitories, construction sites and small rental houses, marking a period of life that was a little struggling and struggling.
This situation reached its peak after 2000.
In 2005, China's instant noodle output ranked first in the world. At that time, the total output of instant noodles was 43.7 billion packs, equivalent to 3.279 million tons, an increase of 18.6% year-on-year, and sales were 29.84 billion yuan.
2011 was the peak of the development of convenience foods in the past ten years, with 12,000 registered companies.
Therefore, 2000-2011 is also called the "prime time" of instant noodles.
However, in the next few years, the sales of convenience food continued to decline.
According to data from the World Instant Noodle Association, between 2013 and 2017, the demand for instant noodles in the Chinese market fell from 46.22 billion to 38.96 billion, a decline of 15.7%.
Instant noodles go "high-end style" just to survive for the brand?
"It's not your peers, it's the era that beats you." This sentence can't be more appropriate for instant noodles.
An important reason for the decline in the performance of convenience food is the emergence of the food delivery industry.
Over the years, fresh, fast and affordable takeaways have cultivated a large number of loyal customers and gradually "cannibalized" the instant noodle market.
On the other hand, in the context of consumption upgrades, people are beginning to pursue a healthy lifestyle. Instant noodles are convenient, but they seem to be insulated from nutrition.
Many people also classify instant noodles as unhealthy foods, and the classic taste of instant noodles in bags has also been rejected by many people as "changing forever."
With the popularization of high-speed rail and airplane travel, the time spent on the journey is getting shorter and shorter, and people's demand for instant noodles has also weakened.
Against the above background, instant noodle companies actively carried out self-help.
There were once a thrilling price war between two major "players".
In the fight that year, the two companies made a fuss about the "gift ham sausage" and consumed nearly 4 billion ham sausages to attract consumers.
However, subsequent performance proved that low-price competition did not work, and the two major companies turned to "high-end products" and successfully achieved "self-help" through the premium of product value.
Since then, more and more new forces in the industry have embarked on the high-end and even ultra-high-end "fast food track."
Why does the brand "breakthrough" take the high-end route?
On the whole, most instant noodle companies choose to enter the 10-20 yuan product track between ordinary instant noodles and takeaway prices, emphasizing "health", short shelf life, and "what you see is what you get" and other selling points.
There is no doubt that this is an initiative taken by instant noodle manufacturers to meet the new demands of consumers.
Once upon a time, when consumers saw attractive patterns such as "mushroom stewed chicken" and "broiled beef" on the outer packaging of instant noodles, they couldn't help but mumble: these patterns are just "for reference only".
Nowadays, instant noodle manufacturers have combined freeze-drying technology to enrich the ingredients and flavors of instant noodles with rich ingredients such as meatballs and shrimps. Some manufacturers have even developed a “thick soup paste” that can be enjoyed with hot water. The original taste of the broth allows consumers to taste what they see from the outer packaging.
The reason why instant noodle companies choose to launch products ranging from RMB 10 to RMB 20 also means to compete with takeaway food.
As the takeaway market has gradually entered the stage of competition among leading companies in the past two years, the intensity of "burning subsidies" has not been as strong as before, and the average price of takeaway food has continued to rise. In addition, there have been frequent takeaway food safety issues in the past two years. This has provided instant noodle companies. Opportunity to "turn over".
Many young consumers who are tired of taking out food are also willing to "give instant noodles another chance". Although they are not so price sensitive, they are more concerned about taste, health and personalization.
In addition, the increase in the price of instant noodles is also due to the increase in raw material prices, increased marketing and packaging efforts, and the development of new flavors.
Unlike the previous instant noodles that were mostly advertised on TV, now instant noodles have embarked on the road of "net celebrity" marketing.
Some netizens said that they had been "grassed" many new products on Xiaohongshu and Douyin.
High-end strategy is the magic weapon to win?
From the data point of view, the high-end strategy has indeed brought the instant noodle industry back to life.
China's instant noodle market sales gradually rebounded after reaching the bottom in 2016.
According to Nielsen data, in the first half of 2020, the overall sales volume of the instant noodle industry increased by 5.6% year-on-year, and sales increased by 11.5% year-on-year.
The epidemic at the beginning of the year made the take-out and take-out catering business sluggish, which also provided new opportunities for the development of the instant noodle industry.
Food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng believes that the reason for the recovery of China's instant noodle market is the simultaneous upgrade, innovation and iteration of the product side and the consumer side.
Some high-priced instant noodles are favored and sought after by consumers, which fully shows that there is no shortage of consumers in the entire Chinese instant noodle market, but good products.
At present, the consumption level of the entire China has entered a stage of precise segmentation, especially in the field of convenience foods. There has been a greater differentiation and segmentation in the field of convenience food. In Zhu Danpeng’s view, this situation is in line with a trend of future development of the entire industry. It is also a highlight of the commercial nature of the entire society.
The "high-end wind" in the instant noodle market does not mean that the industry has collectively increased prices. Consumers still have a large number of low-priced and affordable instant noodles to choose from.
"High-end style" is more like an effort of instant noodle companies to open up incremental markets in market competition.
After the early adopters, whether consumers will fully recognize these new products and whether the "high-end style" can persist will still need practice and time to test.
But there is no doubt that the competition between instant noodles and competitors will continue. Who can satisfy consumers with health and convenience can win the market and win the future.
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